


The Loud Quiet

by TheMonsterGhost



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Blood and Gore, Gen, Giant Spiders, Murder, Needles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-01-24 21:30:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1617725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMonsterGhost/pseuds/TheMonsterGhost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Intern Vanessa, who is very much alive, thinks there's something convenient about all the awful things happening in Desert Bluffs. Kevin, who very much has eyes, agrees. Maybe it has something to do with that new factory that opened outside of town. Some people would like to believe it doesn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> Please be warned that there will be **graphic gore** and **character death**. Proceed only if you are comfortable reading this material. If you have any questions about headcanons or character descriptions mentioned in this story, I'm happy to answer notes, especially on tumblr (themonsterghost)! Thank you.

**The Quiet**

“Good afternoon, Desert Bluffs! It’s another sunny day here in the Bluffs. _Really_ sunny! Make sure you protect your skin and eyes before heading out today. Sunscreen and sunglasses are absolutely necessary on a day like this, everyone. Especially for all those happy little children out there! Intern Vanessa says that the SPF number isn’t as important as making sure you’re protecting against both UVB and UVA rays. Keep that in mind! And thank you, Vanessa. Helpful as always!”

Vanessa smiled from behind the booth window, giving Kevin a small thumbs-up. Kevin admired her dimples and pleasant workplace attitude. Not that he was normally a person to pick favorites, as all hard-working citizens were worth their penny, but Vanessa was by far his favorite and longest-lasting intern. She didn’t just do her job. She was always contributing to the community, to the show, to the workplace… She was a joy to have around. Kevin gave her a thumbs up in return and she beamed.

“Now, the news,” said Kevin cheerfully. He dove right into a story about how the Jones family café was doing a promotional stunt including a puppy circus and a giant wood-burning stove built for baking giant loaves of bread. “Personally, I’d just make a thousand pizzas,” Kevin joked. “Make sure you go support your local family-owned business, Desert Bluffs! I hear those puppies are just adorable. I wonder if any of them know how to ride a unicycle? Only one way to find out, right Vanessa?”

The show went on with its usual rounds of words and stories and sponsorships and traffic, so on and so forth. The weather came and the weather went somewhere between the frequent updates on the Jones family café.

But it was with a frown that Kevin briefed himself on the next bit of news. He flipped through his PowerPoint with a solemn shake of his head. “Aw, this is a bit of a downer. Speaking of supporting your local businesses, and pizza, I’m sorry to say that Luigi’s has officially gone under, Bluffs. You’ll all recall that Luigi’s has been owned and run by the same family for four generations. However, after the recent and most regretful passing of the late Aldo Martelli, ownership fell to the only heir, the young Giorgio Martelli. Giorgio made the controversial decision to buy ingredients for the famous Luigi’s pizzas from a mysterious, _different_ source. The change was later discovered to have been necessary since the original providers of Luigi’s produce went out of business due to unknown causes. Unfortunately, the _new_ ingredients were… Well… We have been missing Luigi’s famous pizzas for a while now. The building has been sold and we all would like to wish Giorgio Martelli success in his future endeavors.”

Kevin enjoyed finishing things off with a smile. However, it seemed as though he wasn’t finished. Looking up from his microphone, he saw Vanessa waving frantically at him from the booth. “Oh, yes, Vanessa?” he said, automatically turning his attention back to his computer screen. Opening his Twitter feed, he saw that his faithful intern had shared a link to a news article with him. It was freshly published, posted barely ten minutes prior to the time Kevin laid eyes on it. He gasped softly behind his hand.

“Oh, listeners,” he said, “I… I regret to inform you that Giorgio Martelli has been _killed_ … in an accident. Police are not yet sure what was the cause but it seems as though there was a gas leak in his home. Presumably, it caught a spark and his entire house was destroyed, burning a few nearby residences as well…”

Kevin nodded gravely to Vanessa, thanking her on air before continuing, “Let this be a lesson to all of us, Desert Bluffs. Not just to be on constant alert for household hazards… But let this be a lesson about the brief flash of life we are given. Not only is it already so short but also there is no telling when it will end! All of your plans for the next ten… twenty… fifty years… They could go up in smoke at an instant. The Martelli family was a successful and celebrated family here in the Bluffs, I think we can all agree. But due to mishap and misfortune, they’ve lost everything within a few short years. They will be missed and they will live on through us!

“Because let me tell you something, listeners… You have every ounce of potential to make something of yourselves. Your town needs you. Why plan to be there for it within a few years when you could help your community today? After all, the worst could happen tomorrow.

“Tell your loved ones how much they matter… And plan something fun! Start that project you’ve been putting off. Band together your neighborhood and clean those streets! Cure cancer! Discover a new dimension in which you didn’t make that mistake you regret every so often. That one mistake that no one else even remembers but it keeps you up at night. It creeps into the most innocent of dreams and turns your loved ones’ faces into the stuff of nightmares before you wake up in a cold sweat, screaming your pleas for forgiveness that go unheard by all who used to be around to hear it. Go find that dimension and get some rest!”

Kevin noticed Vanessa tapping her wrist. Vanessa saw that he’d noticed her so she made the wrap-up signal with a nod. Kevin returned the nod with a smile.

He said, “You can do it, Desert Bluffs. I believe in you.”

The dark-skinned radio host tied off the show in his usual manner. “That’s all the time we have for today,” he began, “Stay tuned next for a calming melody to accompany you on your way to wherever your travels take you… Until next time Desert Bluffs. Until next time!” With the soft fade of music, the microphone went cold and Kevin removed his headphones. He wanted to smile but despite the cheer in his voice, he couldn’t manage a single grin.

“Can I get you anything?” Vanessa asked, allowing herself into the studio.

Kevin shook his head, “No, I think I’m just going to go home today. Maybe I’ll stop by the store and treat myself to something nice. You should do the same!”

He forced a smile but his intern could tell that he was not happy. She said, “Is it about the Martellis?”

“I can’t hide anything from you, can I?” Kevin chuckled. He double-checked to make sure his microphone was off before answering. “Yes and no. It’s sad but… I don’t know, Vanessa, doesn’t it seem like a bit of a stretch? A strange coincidence? It’s all very… Um…”

He wasn’t at a loss for words. He was hesitant to speak. Vanessa spoke for him. “Convenient?” she said.

Kevin eyed her carefully, biting his bottom lip as he nodded. “Convenient,” he echoed, “And they’re not the only ones.”

They were both silent. It went without saying that all of the mysterious deaths and disappearances around town as of late had been business owners. It started with the most successful and worked its way down. Desert Bluffs was losing an unseen battle that no one knew they were supposed to be fighting. It was like harmlessly blinking and then being told they lost a staring contest. Kevin didn’t think there was any way to take it back. He simply read the news and hoped for the best. He hoped for the face of evil to show itself so that he could know who to fight against.

As things were, he was hopelessly trusting and disgustingly oblivious. Even Vanessa opened her mouth to say something but Kevin spoke first. He said, “At least not all is lost… Why, the owners of that new factory have been awfully helpful, haven’t they? I think their name was…”

“Strexcorp,” said Vanessa with a hint of malice in her tone.

It flew right over Kevin’s head. “Strexcorp!” he exclaimed, “Yes! If not for them, Desert Bluffs would be lost. It’s my understanding that they’ve been buying up all the lost businesses to help keep our real estate in healthy shape.”

Vanessa was checking her phone for news updates. She said, “They’ve already bought Luigi’s and announced its reopening.”

“See!” Kevin cheered, “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. They probably heard me on the show and bought it up. Are they still going to make pizza?”

“Yes…” Vanessa replied skeptically.

“How wonderful,” said Kevin. “Now everyone in that area who relied on Luigi’s for their Tuesday night pizza parties can continue to do so! Strexcorp really is helping us all live our lives in these dark times.”

Vanessa sighed, eyes wandering to the camera in the corner of the room that stared straight back. “This seems to really be lifting your spirits,” she mentioned.

“You know what?” he said, “I think you’re right. I’m feeling much better. You have to be optimistic!”

Vanessa interjected, “Great,” before he could go on. She snatched his wrist and pulled him from his chair. “Since you’re feeling better, we should get a yogurt,” she said.

“Oh! Vanessa!” Kevin laughed, breezily following along as she tugged him through the halls of the radio station. “Well, if you insist!”

“We’ll take my car,” she said, “And I’ll bring you back here afterward.”

“I could just follow you—“

She stopped, putting her hands on his shoulders. Her bright, brown eyes stared pleadingly into his strange, gold ones. The one on his forehead glowed and he murmured, “Vanessa… your heart is beating so fast… Are you…?”

“Trust me,” she said quietly, “You _have_ to trust me.”

They both went quiet as footsteps neared. Vanessa pulled away from Kevin, straightening her skirt and adjusting her bag. “Good afternoon,” said Kevin as a fellow employee walked by. She was the evening host and although she only spoke between intervals of music and recorded announcements, she had a long shift. She raised her empty mug in acknowledgement before disappearing into the break room.

“I trust you,” said Kevin.

Without looking back at him, Vanessa nodded. They left the station and got into her car. She drove towards the nearest frozen yogurt shop but they left it behind without stopping. Kevin didn’t know where they were going but he didn’t ask.

However, he did reach for the buttons and dials that controlled the radio. Vanessa stopped him by taking his hand and shaking her head. “I have a headache,” she lied. Kevin could tell she was lying but he also knew that Vanessa was aware of it. She wouldn’t lie to him without reason. It was strange and Kevin was exceedingly worried. He put his hands between his legs and kept to himself.

They left the city. The road became a cracked and dusty stretch into an eternity of sand and cacti. Being beyond the city limits made Kevin nervous. He glanced at Vanessa and watched as her eyes flickered between the road and her rear-view mirror.

After a while, she finally pulled over. It was in the middle of nowhere with no discernable landmarks. Desert Bluffs was well beyond eyesight. There was nothing but the horizon, which was growing darker as the day wore on.

“Kevin,” said Vanessa. The silence was finally broken and the radio host sighed in relief. He gave her his attention. She asked, “Do you know what Strexcorp does? What they make? Have you ever wondered what a factory is doing buying a pizza place and a pottery store and an insurance company all in one week?”

Kevin realized he hadn’t thought of those things.

“They make _everything_ ,” she said gravely. “They don’t care about the quality of it; they just make everything. They want to **be** in everything. Kevin… I think they’re the ones who have been destroying Desert Bluffs.”

Kevin stared wide-eyed and in disbelief. “But… they’ve been helping Desert Bluffs…” he said, “If it wasn’t for them, then—“

“If it wasn’t for them, Luigi’s wouldn’t have had to switch providers for their produce. In case you were wondering, the people who bought out their last providers were _Strexcorp_. The people who were forcing Luigi’s to use those awful ingredients that put them out of business were _Strexcorp_! What is Strexcorp even doing growing produce in the desert, Kevin?”

And poor Kevin who wanted to only believe the best in everyone shook his head the entire time. He said, “Vanessa, I’m sure there’s more to this than that. It’s probably just a coincidence… An unfortunate chain of events that Strexcorp has been trying very hard to—“

“Are you kidding me?” snapped Vanessa. She scoffed and gave Kevin an exasperated, dry laugh. “I had to bring you out here because they’ve taken over everything. Our cameras, our security, our police...! Next they'll take our sta—”

“Because they want the best for us,” Kevin insisted, “Don’t you see, Vanessa? They’re trying to protect us!”

“Why are you trying so hard to ignore the fact that they’re sucking us dry, Kevin?” she said wildly, shaking her hands in the air helplessly. “I’ve been watching them since they got here! I was hoping to maybe get a story on the new factory built right outside of town but they’ve been shrouded in mystery and they refuse to—“

Suddenly, she stopped, eyes snapping to Kevin’s. They were wide and terrified to the point that Kevin wondered if there was a giant scorpion on his shoulder. He looked over both shoulders and then back at her when no such danger revealed itself. “Vanessa?” he asked.

“You,” she said, pointing, “You’re already working with them, aren’t you?”

“No!” said Kevin, “I wouldn’t keep something like that from you, Vanessa, believe me. I just don’t think we should be so quick to—“

“There’s nothing quick about this!” she yelled.

“Vanessa, please—“

“No! I’ve been watching in fear as they have been closing their jaws around this town and I don’t want to stand for it anymore! I can’t trust anyone! I thought I could trust you but…” She shook her head, biting her lip and starting the car back up. The rumble of the engine coming to life was like a defeated beast, reflecting the betrayed look in Vanessa’s eyes. Her fingers tightened around the wheel and her eyes pinched shut as she shook off the need to scream.

Kevin felt a pang of guilt. He said, “No, Vanessa, I… You can trust me… I’ll look into it, alright? I’ll think about it.”

She stared with empty eyes at her steering wheel, fingers slowly relaxing so that her knuckles weren’t going white. Kevin put a hand on her shoulder and she sighed heavily. Vanessa tilted her head back to take a calming breath. “Alright,” she said, “I’m sorry. I just… Kevin, I’m so scared.”

He smiled warmly at her, giving her an encouraging shake. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay, I promise… Did I ever tell you how much I admire you?”

Vanessa looked up at him slowly, a small smile forming on her lips. Kevin nodded, “Mmhm. You’re a hardworking and devoted woman and one of the best friends I’ve ever had. I’m happy to know I’ve earned your trust and even happier to give you mine. Even if I don’t agree with you, I trust you. And I promise, if you’re right about Strexcorp, I’ll do everything in my power to help stop them.”

Vanessa threw her arms around Kevin’s neck in a tight hug. He returned the gesture without a second thought. “Thank you,” she said, “Thank you… I believe in you, Kevin. I think together, we can be the ones to save Desert Bluffs.”

“You know what?” said Kevin, “I think you’re right! Now matter what it is, we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“That’s what a good reporter does,” Vanessa replied, sitting up straight and happily returning to the road. They began to head back towards town and Vanessa caught Kevin glancing at the radio.

“I think it’s safe,” she said with only a bit of concern. It wasn’t enough to stop Kevin from cheerfully clicking the radio to life.

A woman’s voice, the same woman they had passed in the station halls earlier in the day, filled the car with sound. She said, “Good evening, Desert Bluffs. I hope you’re all safe at home or comfortable in your place of work. Maybe you’re out eating dinner with your family. Maybe you’re driving down a long, empty road. Whatever you’re doing or not doing, whoever you’re with or not with, we at DBCR hope you enjoy the rest of your evening. We hope you’ll let us keep you company as you drift to sleep tonight. We’ll see you again in the morning. Now, back to the music.”

A relaxing tune came on and it soothed the hot air and frayed nerves. Kevin smiled as Vanessa drove. He was sure that Strexcorp was only looking out for the best interest of the town it had built off of. He made a promise to look into them and he would do that but he was more excited about being a part of something. He gazed out the window, watching as the sun glimmered its last few rays across the darkening horizon and he thought about being a leader. He thought about using his words to inspire and lead a town into a glorious future, hand in hand. He thought about bringing everyone together and about making Desert Bluffs the shining and happy town he always remembered it being. The town he was happy to report on.

He closed his eyes, save the third on his forehead. It stayed open, the golden ring of color within black sclera shining bright. He could see everything. He could see Vanessa’s healthy lungs pulling in air, her heart beating rhythmically, her eyelashes brushing her cheeks every time she blinked… Kevin could see the wheels of the car spinning and the engine working. He hummed pleasantly, finding joy in all the little movements of life.

The moon had replaced the sun in the sky by the time they made it back to the station parking lot, which was empty save for two vehicles.

“Thanks again, Kevin,” said Vanessa, keeping her place in the driver’s seat.

“Are you going to go straight home? We could grab something to eat if you want; I’ll pay for it,” said Kevin.

She shook her head but smiled gratefully. “I have a lot of research to get done. Maybe some other time.”

Kevin let himself out while saying, “You drive safe. Take care of yourself!”

He watched her pull out with his hands in his pockets. When she’d turned the corner, he looked to the station. “Mm, darn,” he chuckled, “Left my keys inside.”

It wasn’t much of a surprise. Vanessa had dragged him out in such a hurry. He didn’t have his phone or his keys or even the mug he took to the station every morning. So he went inside to fetch them.

The first thing he noticed was that the station management’s door was open. His heart skipped a beat and then immediately began hammering against his ribcage. Kevin instinctively pressed himself against the nearest wall and closed his eyes. He could see through the walls. He could see his phone and keys sitting on the desk in the studio. His mug was sitting on a counter in the break room. The nightshift host was in one of the computer rooms, researching upcoming musicians…

There was something else. Someone else? Kevin tried to see them but it was dark in the station management’s room. He saw the shapes of people but not their insides. He couldn’t see their bones or their hearts or their eyes. However, he could see that they were having a discussion with the giant, hairy beast that was station management.

This didn’t concern him, he decided. He didn’t have to look in or even acknowledge what he’d noticed. Kevin simply needed to get his belongings and get out. He took a deep breath and, as casually as possible, made his way to the end of the hall. Eyes to the floor, he walked by the open door of management with urgency in his step.

He tried to remain calm, as was protocol whenever management’s door was open, but his heart was threatening to leap out of his chest. Last time he met station management face-to-face was the last time he planned to ever so much as think about it. So he snatched up his things, shoving them deep into his pockets and turning on his heel.

“OH! Good Lord,” Kevin cried when he spotted someone standing in the doorway. It was a woman, rather tall but also rather shapely. She wore a long, airy dress that hung breezily from her wide hips. The color of it popped against her ebony skin. “My goodness… It’s just… you,” he sighed.

“Brytne,” the woman clarified, looking at Kevin questionably.

“Yes,” he said, nodding, “Brytne. I don’t think we’ve ever properly… Um, been introduced. What a shame, right? I’m Kevin.”

“I know.” She smirked, crossing her arms and cocking a hip. With an amused glimmer in her eye, she pointed to the empty space on the desk where Kevin’s things had just been. She had fantastically painted nails, Kevin noticed. “I was wondering who left those. I thought it might have been you but you didn’t come back so…”

“I left with a friend for a while,” Kevin explained.

“Oh, yeah? That intern?” She sighed, leaning her head on the doorframe. “I wish I could have an intern,” she complained, “But we’re not allowed to keep interns in the station at night.” Brytne rolled her eyes with a dissatisfied huff. Her gold earrings jingled when she moved her head, Kevin noticed. “I could use the company. Do you know how many cups of coffee I go through in a night?”

Kevin laughed, “About as many as I go through in the morning?”

It happened so fast.

There she was, one moment, and then she was gone in the next. A long, hairy spider’s arm reached into the room and wrapped around her waist. She was still smiling, _just_ on the cusp of a laugh, unaware of the terrifying fate about to befall her. The tibia to the claws of the wretchedly long leg alone was almost equal to her height. It was another small detail Kevin noticed as those parts curled around her body and jerked her back into the hall. He stared into the dark, speechless as her blood-curdling scream broke the air.

Kevin’s eyes fell onto the desk as he stiffly turned away from the hall and he saw that they had reached a break in the music. The microphone automatically went hot, ready for the usual quick, quiet announcement. However, all that the late-night listeners were met with were Brytne’s dying cries and the inhuman screeching of an impossibly colossal spider.

It was all he could do to keep his attention on that little red light on the computer screen, wondering if he was next. The color drained from his cheeks as he thought about running, as he thought about the futility of attacking. Station management didn’t sound hungry; it sounded furious. It was taking its rage out on Brytne and Kevin was positive that if he moved an inch, he would be joining her.

He felt like a coward. He felt… **_worthless_**.

While Kevin struggled with his fight or flight response, the microphone turned itself back off and an instrumental piece began to play.

Kevin jumped when station management’s door slammed shut. He spun around with a yelp. Adrenaline took over his bloodstream and he felt a surge of energy urging him to bolt towards the door.

Except he was not alone. Three people in black suits with yellow ties stood before him, all eyes studying him closely. The tallest was a man and he leaned down to whisper to the smallest, a woman. She hummed in response. The middle, a man, said nothing.

The woman, pale and petite with honey brown hair, smiled from ear-to-ear. 

“Kevin, is it?” she asked.

Kevin nodded. He wondered how these people had escaped the certain death that came with entering the room they had just left. He wondered how they could be smiling while Brytne was torn to pieces on live air. He wondered why they hadn’t done anything to save her while they had the chance. He could still hear her, incoherent and loud as her bones were crushed and her blood was spilled.

The woman stepped forward, looking very pleasant and very professional. “Hi, Kevin. I’m Lauren and I represent Strexcorp Synergists Incorporated. We have just had a very healthy discussion with your management and we’ve come to the decision that ownership of Desert Bluffs Community Radio will be handed over to Strexcorp. Effective immediately. We would have called you about it in the morning but since you’re here, we’d like to go ahead and welcome you to the Strex Family! We’re very excited to be getting involved with the community in this way and we look forward to working with you.”

Kevin noticed that she was offering him her hand to shake, that she had crossed the room to stand before him while she’d been speaking, but he was already shaking. He looked at her hand and then back into her eyes. She simply waited, unmoving and unflinching. “I… I’m…”

The screaming stopped, as did the thrashing of the spider. Kevin’s eyes wandered to the wall before slowly closing. Lauren asked, “Kevin?”

He could see station management, that giant and terrifying tarantula, red staining its fangs and front legs. There was almost no trace of Brytne besides her blood on the walls. And station management… It twitched and looked as though it was trying to stand but couldn’t. Kevin saw inside of it, beneath that dreadful shell, and he saw that it was sick. A… darkness was entering its blood and filling it whole. A sort of… venom? Kevin couldn’t explain it besides… _darkness_. He could see the darkness and he could see that station management was dying.

He could also see that the darkness was inside the three people sharing a room with him. Except they weren’t dying. They were alive and their hearts pumped that strange venom through every part of their bodies. It passed through their eyes and brains and fingertips and outstretched palms…

“Kevin!” Lauren snapped and he gasped.

“I’m so sorry,” he said quickly, shaking her hand once and then moving for the door, “It has been very nice meeting you, Lauren, and… um…”

“Their names aren’t important,” she said, leaning against the desk and tapping the wood with her fingernail. Her fingernails were not fantastically painted. They looked as though she made a habit of scratching floorboards.

Kevin tried to squeeze past the two men who stood in the doorway but they silently refused to move, eyes piercing with malicious regard.

“I really should be going now. I look forward to working with you all,” Kevin said, keeping his gaze lowered.

Lauren gave Kevin a scrutinizing glance-over and then the men a sharp nod. They stepped aside and Kevin wordlessly strode by.

“See you tomorrow!” Lauren sang.

Kevin practically sprinted for his car, hands shaking as he fumbled for the keys. Even after getting his door shut and locked, he was barely able to get his phone to open his list of contacts.

But then he remembered Vanessa’s words. He wanted to call her but he remembered her warning about Strexcorp. About how nothing and nowhere was safe. So with a heavy heart, he slowly lowered his cell and tried to breathe.

Kevin tried to convince himself that it was okay. He realized that he’d left his mug in the break room. “I’ll just get a new one on the way home!” he said aloud, trying to remind himself that he had a voice and that he was alive. He even laughed. “I was going to treat myself, wasn’t I? Yep. Yep…”

Starting up the engine and pulling out of the parking lot, he was still laughing. Kevin laughed all the way to the store. When he went inside and found a mug he liked, he checked the bottom to see if it was microwave safe. He was met with the Strexcorp logo, that orange triangle with a large S in the middle. He laughed at that, too.

On the way home, he was working everything out, making sense of it all. By the time he had put himself in bed, he decided everything was okay. Station management had been dangerous and ancient and bloodthirsty. Everyone would be safer with that monster gone. Interns would be allowed to work through the night. Strexcorp had faced the evil he was too afraid to face, even with his peer screaming for help. Kevin saw himself as the bad guy. He saw himself as worthless and he saw himself walking down a dark and lonely path. Strexcorp was good. Strexcorp was leading Desert Bluffs to a bright future.

Everything would be okay.


	2. The Loud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"I felt a light in my head and it pounded like a migraine against the back of my eyes. I could not look at them._
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  _I could not look away._  
> 
>  
> 
> _I was lost in the spiral. It was built by good people, but they were gone, taken by something larger and stronger than them. Much larger and stronger than even the masked warriors I saw before._
> 
>  
> 
> _I worried about what– who would be taken next._
> 
>  
> 
> _My eyes hurt. So through my subjectivity, the entire world hurt._
> 
>  
> 
> _And then, a bright blackness, from somewhere beyond the spiral. That was when I realized I had forgotten that there was anything outside of the spiral. It had become the entirety, the totality, all of that._
> 
>  
> 
> _But I followed the bright blackness, a near-blinding beam of pure darkness, and it led me back out again."_  
>  **-Dana, Welcome to Night Vale, "WALK"**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Graphic descriptions of gore ahead.** Do not feel pressured to read if you aren't comfortable with this content. Otherwise, enjoy.

**The Loud**

Kevin woke up feeling refreshed. He got a full night’s sleep and a quick shower was all he needed to wash the lingering tiredness from his shoulders. He ate a balanced breakfast, brushed his teeth, and tightened his tie. On his way out the door, he grabbed his new mug, giving it a fond smile.

Brytne, the late-night host for Desert Bluffs Community Radio, was dead. Former station management, which had been little more than a giant, sentient tarantula, was also dead. It was a shame but Kevin preferred to see them as opportunities. Every closed door opened another, after all.

He left his apartment with a skip in his step. The sun was shining bright and barely three clouds dotted the vast, blue sky. “Lovely,” Kevin said, hopping into his car and turning on the radio.

“That’s just about it for the morning show, ladies and gentlemen, but before we go, a word from our new sponsors… Straight from the source! Please welcome Lauren Mallard to the station.”

“Thank you, Alex! Wow, is everyone in Desert Bluffs so friendly?”

The voices all had a laugh that Kevin shared with them while he drove.

“Well, Lauren, we try.”

“Yes,” said Lauren, “We at Strexcorp Synergists Incorporated have seen that. And we love it! Everyone in Desert Bluffs tries so very hard, don’t they? You’re all very work-oriented people with overall upbeat attitudes and high citizen satisfaction… Is that correct to assume, Dyllon?”

“For the most part, Lauren. But I don’t know about Alex… You gonna ruin this for us, Alex?”

“Hey, born and raised in the Bluffs, right here,” said Alex, “Look at this guy. Where’d you come from? Los Angeles or something? Gonna bring in that California attitude on our report card, Dyllon?”

Another round of polite laughing ensued.

Kevin loved the Alex and Dyllon Morning Show. Normally, he would wake up earlier to catch more of it. However, understandably, he got all the sleep he could get after what had happened. But their playful morning banter always put him in a good mood.

“Didn’t you have a few words for us, Lauren?” asked Dyllon.

“Ah,” she said, and despite all his coming to terms with the previous night, Kevin couldn’t find it in himself to relax at the sound of her voice, “Yes. Look around you, Desert Bluffs. What do you see? Your town slowly going out of business and falling apart? No. You see Strex! Look inside of you, Bluffs. Look at that strong work ethic and look at the products you consume… If you look deep enough, you’ll see it: Strex! Wake up to a beautiful day full of work and sunshine and then go to sleep. Dream of the people who are going to take care of you. Dream on that soft mattress we’ve provided for you. Strex. And if you believe in a bright future, if you believe in hard work and earning your way, if you believe in making every step forward count, then join us. Join us in believing in a Smiling God, who believes in you. Believe in a Smiling God who is watching you. Strexcorp. It is… everything!”

There was a brief moment of silence. Kevin felt his stomach twist in knots but he ignored it. It definitely had nothing to do with that last line and how closely it resembled what Vanessa had told him… About how they wanted to be everything… No.

“Thank you, Lauren,” Alex said.

“Thanks for joining us,” said Dyllon.

“Thank _you_!” Lauren sang, “I look so forward to working with you all. I look forward. I look ahead. We all should. We must.”

The morning hosts went about their usual way of tying things up. Kevin focused on that aspect. He thought about how nothing was really all that different. In fact, things were better. There was a price for better. They lost Brytne but it was an accident that Kevin was sure Strexcorp would make up for. They would make the station a better place. They would make Desert Bluffs a better place. At least, he sincerely hoped so.

The face of evil. Kevin knew something was happening in Desert Bluffs and he’d asked to see the face of evil so that he might know who to fight against. He owed it to Vanessa to wonder if that face was Strexcorp. But he couldn’t see it. Every time he looked he only saw a bright light and it was so much more appealing than the dark ruins he saw when he looked away. Maybe it was Vanessa who needed to see.

Kevin pulled into the parking lot but he didn’t get out of his car. He turned off the engine and stayed in the silence of an unmoving vehicle. Time ticked on. Kevin closed his eyes and he felt the movement of the Earth and of the universe.

No one ever really went anywhere. There was no moving forward and no moving back; only time rushing by and eroding away the body like wind and rain against a cliff face. There was no stopping that movement. There was only accepting it and making the most of each day before inevitably crumbling to pieces. Kevin was not someone who wanted to stand in the way of progress. He didn’t want to get mowed down by that unstoppable force. He was happier to close his eyes and let the current take him where it would. He was happier to blindly walk forward on the path time was carving for him.

It was easier that way.

Kevin brought his mug inside with him and he went straight for the break room. Alex and Dyllon were there, making conversation and sharing a meal. He overheard them while pouring his coffee.

“It’s no wonder she was fired,” said Alex, “Did you see the station this morning?”

“Yeah, she just left everything on,” said Dyllon, rolling his eyes.

“It’s rude,” Alex continued while Dyllon attacked a cream cheese bagel, “I mean, I just don’t want to see the electric bill at the end of the month is all I’m saying.”

Kevin wanted to say something. He wanted to shout that Brytne wasn’t fired; she was killed. He wanted to ask if they’d thought, even for a moment, about how strange it was for a house-sized tarantula to suddenly go missing. “Do you just believe everything you hear?” he wanted to ask bitterly, knowing in detail that their fellow host had been murdered just a few doors down only hours ago.

But those sorts of thoughts and questions would make him a hypocrite. So Kevin said only, “Good afternoon,” as he took his coffee into the hallway.

Vanessa was walking out of the studio at the same moment. Their points in time and space met in that hallway, Vanessa with an armful of papers and Kevin with his hands holding tight to a hot cup of coffee.

“Kevin,” she said, as if she needed to talk to him.

But Kevin was afraid to hear what she wanted to say. He felt that her words would bring him out from the light he found himself in. So he said, “Oh, Vanessa, thank you for having a pot ready for me. I didn’t have time to make myself a cup this morning.”

“Kevin,” she repeated, quieter and with a squint. She leaned forward, ready to whisper something to him. Directions, maybe. Somewhere to meet in order to talk privately. Kevin walked passed her.

“Sorry,” he said, “I just need to check a few things.”

“Check a few…?”

Vanessa watched him go into the studio. Kevin was praying that she would let it be but he had no such luck. She looked down at her feet in contemplation for only a few seconds before taking a deep breath and shadowing him.

“You of all people should know it’s not safe to bring drinks into the studio,” she said, stressing the words ‘not safe.’

Kevin sighed heavily. It was a wonder he was avoiding her when all he wanted was someone to talk to. He needed to tell someone what he saw and how afraid he was. But he was also afraid of the truth. It didn’t make any sense, he knew that, but…

“Did you get enough sleep?” Vanessa asked, bringing him back from his thoughts.

“Yes, of course,” Kevin said.

Vanessa grimaced in disbelief. “Are you sure?” she said, “You look kind of… awful. Like you haven’t slept.”

Kevin chuckled, “Are you kidding? I’ve hardly felt so refreshed!”

“Maybe you should see for yourself,” Vanessa insisted.

There was a pain in Kevin’s chest. He wondered if it was true. What if he looked in the mirror and it turned out that he looked awful? What if he really was lying to himself? What if he didn’t actually feel refreshed at all? What if he had been up all night long without remembering it?

So he slowly got up and shuffled to the men’s room. He was so wrapped up in himself that he didn’t notice Vanessa on his heels. He entered the restroom and curled his fingers around the edges of the nearest sink, head down. He didn’t want to look up. He didn’t want to see sleeplessness and fear in his eyes.

The door clicked and his shoulders jerked.

“Jeeze, you’re twitchy,” said Vanessa, double-checking that she’d properly locked the door to the men’s room.

“What are—“

“We need to talk,” Vanessa whispered, urging him to the back wall, farthest from the door. Kevin caught his reflection and saw that he was normal. He was healthy. He was just fine and without shadows under his eyes or bloodshot veins in his sclera. It occurred to him, at last, that Vanessa only wanted to talk. She probably thought he went to the men’s room because he was wise to her act. In actuality, if he’d known her angle, he wouldn’t have let her lock them in a room together. He didn’t want to talk. He didn’t want to hear it.

“Did you notice?’ she started.

“Station management,” Kevin replied automatically. She seemed surprised considering he’d hardly been in the station for five minutes.

She said, “Yeah… And guess who’s taken over already?”

“Stexcorp,” Kevin replied again.

“Right,” Vanessa confirmed, “Strexcorp. Of course, right? Kevin, I think this is bad. They’re in our media now, you know? That gives them so much power. I’m afraid that they’re onto us. I’m afraid that they’re trying to take our power away from us.”

“What are you talking about, Vanessa…” Kevin sighed, wincing as her words scraped against the back of his eyes like a terrible migraine, “They’re just trying to help. Station management died so they took over to keep us from going under.”

Vanessa’s eyes went wide in shock and her mouth dropped. Her lips moved silently while she struggled for words. “D-died?” she breathed.

“Yes,” Kevin said, “ _Died_. Don’t you…?”

Remember? No, she wasn’t there. She didn’t see the venom. She didn’t get the chance to see the life leaving that beast. She didn’t hear Brytne screaming for help…

“Kevin,” said Vanessa, squeezing his arms. He didn’t realize his eyes had screwed shut or that he was biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. He cracked a crooked smile.

“It’s fine,” he murmured, “It’s fine. It’s fine.”

Her voice lowered and she demanded to know, “What. Happened.”

Kevin kept biting his lip and shaking his head. “It’s fine,” he said, “Really. Really! It’s fine.”

Vanessa opened her mouth but there was a quick knock at the door. Lauren’s voice rang out from behind it, “Kevin? Are you in there?”

“It’s fine!” said Kevin but he quickly revised his statement to, “I mean, yes! I’ll be right out.”

“I can’t find your intern,” she replied, but mostly to herself. Her footsteps disappeared down the hall outside as she muttered something about looking in the sales department’s break room.

Vanessa gave Kevin’s arms another squeeze, reminding him that she wanted answers. He didn’t look at her. Couldn’t. She was a darkness that blotted out the light and Kevin could feel himself growing distant from her. Somewhere something was telling him that it wasn’t right. That even if he disagreed with his favorite intern, he would never scorn her. But he could taste the sourness of disdain in the dryness of his mouth as she spoke to him.

“Everything passes,” said Kevin, gently removing Vanessa’s hands from his arms. Her touch was cold and painful. “Life especially,” he went on, “And it passed. Strexcorp was kind enough to take the torch and light the way. Things are going to be better for us, Vanessa. I really think we should give them a chance.”

Vanessa stared for a long time. She stood at that fixed point in the universe, staring into Kevin’s downturned face, as time relentlessly rushed by them both. Her fingers curled into her palm and Kevin knew she was thinking of a thousand ways to shout some sense into him. But instead, she breathed it all out on a heavy sigh and simply said, “I wish you would give _me_ a chance.”

Kevin looked up but she already had her back to him. The remorse those words dragged over him was enough to turn him away from the blindingly pleasant light long enough to let fear settle into his heart. The necessary fear it took to want to fight for survival. “Wait,” he said.

“You’ve already made your choice,” she answered, unlocking the door. But Kevin was terrified of being left alone with his guilt. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.

“What are we supposed to do?” he asked desperately, “Why aren’t we allowed to just… give in? Why not let them have the power, Vanessa? I don’t want it. I just want to be alive and to be happy. I want everyone to be alive and happy. Strexcorp is willing to do that for us. Why not let them?”

“Because they’re evil!” she snapped, tearing her hand away from him. “You think they’ll stop with us? They’re just conditioning us, Kevin! They’re brainwashing us and then they’re going to kill all of us. They’re going to bleed us dry and feed us to their machine, I know it…”

She took another deep breath and held it, searching his strikingly gold eyes for a reason to go on. She wanted a reason to share with him something that she was afraid to say. Vanessa decided to trust him. She said, “Kevin… I had a dream.”

“A dream? Vanessa? A dream?” Kevin sighed helplessly, covering his face. “A dream doesn’t affect reality. It doesn’t change that there’s nothing wrong. It doesn’t prove that anything bad is going to happen. A dream doesn’t convince me that Strexcorp is bad or that Desert Bluffs doesn’t need their help.”

“I know,” she replied, “I know and I didn’t want to say anything because I knew you’d feel that way but… Just listen? It was a dream but it also wasn’t. I don’t think dreams and reality are all that different because I don’t think that reality is as solid as we think it is. It’s more like a liquid and dreams are like a gas. They’re like the steam from hot water and I think that they exist differently but that they are a part of one another.

“This dream felt more like a vision. It felt like a cloud that came from somewhere else but not from some _when_ else. I think it’s happening right now. It was a cloud that passed over me while I slept and I saw things happening as they were happening, like I was there but wasn’t. I think there is a mountain. And there is life there. There are people. Well, there were people there. There was life. They’re no longer there but they left behind a warning… Or maybe it’s not that. Maybe it’s something else. Like a shrine or a… I don’t know.

“What I do know is that it spirals downward, endlessly. There’s a monster, dragging itself across dead earth and it is hungry and it is as bright as the sun. Not the sun in the sky from down here… It’s bright like the sun. Like the view of the sun from _Mercury_. And it’s coming. It’s coming for all of us and it is the unraveling of all things…”

The pair heard Lauren down the hall. She called for Kevin, reminding him that he needed to be ready to go on air soon.

Kevin eyed the door, wanting to go, wanting to do his job, wanting to pretend that Vanessa’s dream didn’t affect him or ring true to some deep part of him. “Just a minute!” Kevin answered. He tried to sound upbeat and not at all shaken.

“It is a monster,” Vanessa said quietly. “And it knows it’s getting close. In time, it will be here. It is… smiling.”

“What does any of this have to do with Strexcorp, Vanessa?” Kevin asked.

Her gaze was set to the tiles on the floor for a beat. She searched for the answer to his question but nothing came up. Kevin asked again but she could only manage to turn her eyes upward. She didn’t know the words to why the smiling and fast approaching monster had anything to do with Strexcorp. But it so happened that she didn’t need the words. Kevin knew exactly how she felt. He knew that the two were tied together and that they had everything to do with one another. He knew that the monster Vanessa spoke of would be the unraveling of all things and that Strexcorp was the end of the yarn, leading the way as the whole thing was pulled apart.

But that feeling wasn’t enough to set his unstable conviction in stone. The light was calling him back. As was Lauren.

Kevin went for the door but Vanessa said, “Later! I’ll have an answer for you later. I promise. So… please. Just give me a chance.”

And Kevin smiled at her, a soft and friendly smile that assured her and made her feel that everything would be okay. He opened the door.

Two men stood before him, one tall and the other not as tall. Kevin recognized them but Vanessa did not. She did, however, see the orange triangles on the lapels of their suits. The color left her face when her eyes met theirs.

“We’re going live,” said one.

“ **Now** ,” said the other.

The tallest grabbed Kevin while the other grabbed Vanessa. “Wh-What are you…? I can… hey!” Kevin protested as he was shoved forward into the studio. He didn’t know why they were being so hard on him when he was perfectly willing to start the show.

Vanessa, however, was not as kind in her protests. She screamed and kicked as she was held up with both of her arms pinned tight behind her back.

The studio had almost everyone in the station crammed inside. Alex, Dyllon, the kind folks from sales, public relations, interns… Kevin was seated at his desk and Vanessa was thrown to the floor. Lauren was seated comfortably in the booth while the tallest man closed the studio door. He stood in front of it, glowering at anyone who looked like they had plans to leave.

“Hello, everyone,” said Lauren, “I just wanted to go ahead and thank all of you for being here this afternoon! As you may or may not know, Strexcorp has purchased the Desert Bluffs Community Radio station. Yay! With this change in management will come a change in scenery. That means updated equipment, new sponsorship messages, and a fresh outlook on the community! As well as how we _interact_ with the community.

“Now, in order to get our messages across to the people of Desert Bluffs effectively, we have decided to make a few small changes that might include the termination of a job or two…” Lauren winced, shrugging apologetically. “But that’s okay! You may lose your job but you won’t lose your employment status. Termination, haha, that’s a silly word. No, we at Strexcorp don’t want any idle hands! We will just transfer you somewhere where we feel you’ll be more… useful.”

There was a soft murmur amongst the people in the studio. Kevin just listened, unsure of how to feel. It all sounded very reasonable and yet there was an air of fear in the room. Even the tattoos on his arm, which were usually completely dormant, shifted uncomfortably.

It didn’t go unnoticed by the men in suits.

Lauren glanced at Vanessa, on her knees and glaring through the glass. The older woman smiled sweetly while dragging her nails down the wood of her desk.

“Let’s start with you, Ms Moore,” Lauren said, addressing Vanessa who sneered at the thin veneer of manners. “Unfortunately, you are an exception. You have one more job under Strexcorp before your employment is terminated.”

“I refuse,” Vanessa spat.

“It’s mandatory, I’m afraid,” said Lauren. “Besides! It’s the least you can do after all those sad lies you’ve been whispering behind our backs. Oh, yes, Ms Moore, we are very aware of those lies and we are going to offer you a chance to redeem yourself by making you our shining _example_. Really, if you think about it, it’s almost like you volunteered! Thank you, Ms Moore, that was very kind of you to do.”

Vanessa gasped as the shorter man in a suit grabbed her by the hair.

“Hey!” snapped Alex, stepping right up to the window. “What do you think you’re doing? What kind of meeting is this? Who do you think you are?”

“Yeah,” said Dyllon, moving towards the men in suits, “I don’t think I appreciate watching you do whatever the hell you want with us. I didn’t sign any goddamn contracts with you assholes.”

“Careful with that language,” said Lauren sweetly, “We’re about to go on air. Kevin, if you would?”

It was automatic. He felt like such a coward, especially while others were being strong, but once he saw the red light go on, he turned away from the terrified faces of his peers. He went to the papers on his desk, all embellished with the Strexcorp logo in the top, left hand corner. “I think, therefore I _think_ I am… I work, therefore I _prove_ I am. Welcome to Desert Bluffs!”

The clarity with which he spoke was shocking to everyone, especially himself. Disturbing, even. But not to the representatives of Strexcorp. Lauren spoke from the booth, “Thank you, Kevin! Very well said. Good afternoon, Desert Bluffs. I am Lauren Mallard, a representative of Strexcorp Synergists Incorporated…”

Her voice faded into the background while Kevin turned slowly from his microphone. People were scared. People Kevin saw every day. People whose names and birthdays were all in Kevin’s memory. He loved his job. He loved his community. And when his gaze fell on Vanessa, he remembered that he loved choice. He didn’t want freedom from choice… He wanted freedom to choose. He wanted others to have that freedom as well. He didn’t want this.

Fueled by a growing anger, the burnt orange tattoos on Kevin’s arms and neck jolted. The mouths began to open, revealing painted teeth. Tentacles and spider legs writhed. He closed his eyes until all he could see were the fluttering hearts all beating wildly within cages made of bone. He could see the darkness inside of Lauren and he focused on it, trying to understand it…

And he saw that it wasn’t dark at all. It was, in fact, bright. It was too bright to look at. Kevin turned his gaze away but it was everywhere. It was everything. He couldn’t look at it. He couldn’t look away. And he couldn’t close his eye.

Unable to see and unable to unsee, he was unprepared for the attack on his neck. The tallest man grabbed a fistful of Kevin’s hair and pulled, revealing the length of his bare neck. With his free hand, the man uncapped a syringe full of a glowing yellow liquid and plunged the needle into his Kevin’s jugular vein.

Once it was in, the man pressed his thumb down on the plunger and covered Kevin’s mouth so his screams were muffled. The microphone could hear him but his covered voice couldn’t drown out Lauren’s speech about Strexcorp. She announced something about the company’s alliance with the mayor and city counsel while Kevin failed to comprehend the burning pain of sunlight scorching his insides.

Chaos erupted in the small space of the studio. The room was actually rather large for a studio but it was packed and people were frantic. Vanessa managed to stand and tackle the tall, suited man to the ground. It was too late to save Kevin from the strange chemical that had him dragging his nails across the desk until they bled.

It was so **bright**. It was loud. There was a sound like the constant feedback of a screeching banshee, amplified through a megaphone. It was loud enough to deafen someone, to leave their hearing to a shrill ringing, and yet it didn’t let up. The strange, screeching feedback noise only grew louder and clearer. Kevin wanted to cover his ears but he was too busy trying to stop the light from burning his eyes. The sun had glued itself to the backs of his eyes and his entire face was melting. The migraine from earlier, he realized, wasn’t from Vanessa’s words but was, in fact, from the light that was worming its way into his mind. His lungs burned to the point he couldn’t breathe. There was little he could do besides thrash and wheeze and bleed. He was bleeding.

With his third eye, Kevin could see he was bleeding. He saw himself and he saw that he was imperfect. He saw the blood on his hands from all those he had let down. He saw the worthlessness that was his entire being. Kevin saw the flimsy gauze that tried to hide his mistakes and shortcomings. And then… he saw a light.

Glowing white teeth closed around his awful reflection until all he could see was the washed out, buffed out, glorious, perfect version of himself that those teeth promised he could be. As he stared at his reflection in those smiling teeth, he smiled back. He smiled until the corners of his mouth hurt and he kept on smiling. He smiled as his eyes caught fire and he smiled as he happily scratched them right out. He didn’t need his eyes to walk serenely forward into a promised future… A future where he was worth something. For once, he would have worth and he would be valuable.

When he looked inside of himself, he saw the light flooding his veins. His tattoos were singing and it didn’t sound like screaming whatsoever. Not at all! They were in his mind, singing until they were too tired to sing. Such happy companions.

“Kevin! Please!”

Kevin opened his eyes but he couldn’t see. Or rather, he could, but not how he’d meant to. He saw Vanessa, her hair entangled in the fingers of one of the suited men. He saw her heart beating faster than hearts should beat and he saw tears streaming down her face.

He was lying on the floor. It felt like he’d been there forever but the tilted clock on the blood-spattered wall revealed he’d only been there for a few minutes. He still had over half of his broadcast to finish.

“Tell them, Kevin!” Vanessa screamed, “Tell them I didn’t do anything!”

Before Kevin could reply, Lauren said, “But you _did_ do something. You’ve been trying to convince our valued employee that Strexcorp, _your employer_ , is toxic to the Desert Bluffs community. You were planning to fill this town’s ears with lies. You were ready to throw Strexcorp out and effectively watch every building in this lovely community get boarded up. Families starved and so much work left… unfinished.”

“No!” Vanessa cried, “I was telling them the truth!”

“Kevin?” said Lauren.

“Yes…?” Kevin replied, staring at Vanessa’s rapidly beating heart and seating himself back at his desk.

“How would you say Ms Moore has described Strexcorp in the recent past?”

Kevin didn’t know why he felt so sad as he answered, “Why, Vanessa told me just moments ago that Strexcorp is evil.”

Betrayal was the first expression that crossed Vanessa’s face. But it melted into despair. And through her tears, she smiled, “Kevin… I’m sorry… I couldn’t save you.”

“What do you mean, Vanessa?” asked Kevin.

She shook her head as much as she could with the suited man’s hand holding tight to her hair. She bit her lip, trying in vain to hold back her emotions. Kevin hurt as he watched her but he also felt… right? He felt as though she deserved what was happening to her. That feeling hurt even more.

Lauren cleared her throat, leaning into the microphone in the booth. She said, “You heard the truth, listeners. _Vanessa_ thinks Strexcorp is… evil! Who could possibly think such a thing? Well, we’re going to show all of you how seriously we at Strexcorp take our reputation. We want you all to know just how far we’re willing to go to make sure that no one ever puts this town in a poor position again. People like Vanessa need to be used as an example so that the rest of us can learn a valuable lesson. Let’s all take some time out of our day to learn that lesson now, shall we? Kevin?”

Kevin looked up with his emptiness that had been his eyes. He looked up from the piles of bodies that had mysteriously piled up on the floor. There was blood everywhere. The glass to the booth was shattered. And to Kevin it looked… lovely. Almost everyone was taking a well-deserved nap and the walls and floor were so spectacularly decorated. Those who weren’t napping were huddled in a corner, hugging one another tightly like all good neighbors do. They were looking around in awe and wonder at the new and progressive style of interior design.

“Yes, Lauren?” asked Kevin.

“Since she is your intern, would you mind using Vanessa there to teach the sweet, hard-working people of Desert Bluffs a lesson in obedience?” Lauren asked. For the first time, Kevin thought her voice was like honey. “Oh… wow,” she said quickly, “ _obedience_ sounds like such a… harsh word. But you know, Kevin, there’s just no better way to express what it means to listen to the wise words of your superiors.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Kevin replied, although there was still a fighting part in him that couldn’t agree less. A happy community wasn’t about obedience; it was about teamwork. It was about trust and communication. These were things Vanessa had given him and he made the choice to remain blind. He’d failed her. He’d failed Desert Bluffs…

Kevin got on his knees in front of Vanessa. She still had her bottom lip tucked between her teeth, eyes swimming behind tears she refused to let fall. “In the mountains,” Vanessa said, loud enough for the microphone to hear, “There is a spiral. It is full of orange triangles. It was built by good people but they’re gone. They were taken by something larger and stronger than them. You’re a good person, Kevin. But they’ve taken you, too.”

Kevin touched her face, letting his hands cup her cheeks and his thumbs wipe away her tears. He wiped them away until her skin was dry, until his thumbs were pressing hard against the corners of her eyes. Just before he dug his nails in, she whimpered, “Night Vale. We need to go to Night Vale…”

Then her eyes were gone, popped right out of her skull as Kevin pushed his thumbs into the sockets. She screamed and all of Desert Bluffs heard her. Lauren smiled smugly from the booth.

As blood poured down her face, Kevin realized he, too, could contribute to this wonderful, new style of room. He could make the studio a happy place. A productive place where everyone would be delighted to work.

But he would miss Vanessa. He would miss her so much. Kevin wanted to do what he was told and he wanted to paint the walls but he wanted to share it with his favorite intern. His friend. If only she had done her job…

“This is your fault,” Kevin hissed, hands wrapping around her throat to stop the shrieking. “If you had just listened to me… If you just… Would have… stayed safe… Then I wouldn’t have to do this without you…”

“I’m sorry,” Vanessa mouthed.

Kevin took her by the back of her head and dragged her to the desk. Someone in the cuddle-corner spoke up but Kevin didn’t hear what they had to say. Maybe it was a protest or maybe it was encouragement. Either way, it didn’t stop Kevin from smashing Vanessa’s face into the wood hard enough to make Lauren yelp.

“Night Vale,” Vanessa murmured. Kevin grabbed a pen and stabbed her in the back of the neck. He stabbed her again and again, loving the spray of blood that covered his sleeves and warmed his cheek.

He stabbed until the pen snapped and her neck was a cluster of tiny pools of blood. He turned her around, slamming her down onto the desk again so that the blood splattered beneath her head. It painted such a pretty picture. It looked all the more exquisite when he grabbed his new mug, now full of lukewarm coffee, and cracked it against her forehead.

Her lips moved, like she was trying to tell him something, but Kevin was tired of her venomous words. Still, she had such pretty, pearly teeth. Kevin grabbed the microphone and smashed them in. Her cries were hardly more than gurgling, choking sounds. To Kevin, they registered as strange little giggles. The light of the Smiling God did wonders. It made him see everything from a new perspective. A happy perspective.

Kevin loved the Smiling God. He loved beating Vanessa’s face with his microphone until her skull caved. He loved reaching into her lifeless body with vicious, scratching hands and pulling her guts across the control panel. The glistening, wet organs made the buttons and sliders so much more appealing. So much happier. He spared nothing, using every bit of Vanessa to decorate the studio. It would be her place. It would be her greatest contribution to the station and Kevin would be with her always. He made sure to find her heart by digging up into her ribcage. It was no longer beating. He took it, plucking it like an apple from a tree or a berry from a bush, and he admired it in the palms of his hands.

How many times, he wondered, had he seen this very heart? Hiding underneath all that skin and bone? It was a perfect heart. It was so functional and reliant, just like Vanessa. Of course she was a good intern; she had a good heart. He placed it carefully and lovingly on the desk next to the row of DBCR host photos. He noticed Brytne’s hadn’t been taken down yet so he threw it across the room, shattering it and letting it disappear from sight. It was better that way.

Kevin worked to the laughter and delighted gasps of his coworkers, smiling all the while. He would have asked them to help him adorn the room but he had a vision. Plus, Vanessa was **his** intern. It was his responsibility to take care of her and to bite her nails from her fingertips, putting them playfully on the control board. It was as if she was still with him, pressing buttons and moving sliders. Oh yes, she would be here always.

“He barely needed any re-education at all,” Kevin heard Lauren say from behind him. “How much did you give him?”

There was something distorted about time and space. The way it worked and the way it moved. Somehow, the broadcast had ended. Kevin got so carried away that he didn’t realize everyone had gone home already and that he was holding a corpse that was barely human. It resembled something more like an animal-skin rug. He didn’t realize he was on the floor and he didn’t realize he had scratched his eyes out to keep the light from catching them on fire.

He was shaking.

“Not any more than usual,” said one of the men.

“That’s so strange,” said Lauren. “I mean, good! But strange… You know, I bet Kevin’s going to help us do great things.”

He felt her breath on his neck as she leaned over him and said, “He might even be one of our very best. Aren’t you, Kevin?”

Kevin saw the light inside Lauren and he saw the light inside himself. It was bright and he couldn’t turn away. He couldn’t close his eye. There was nowhere to hide from that blinding, scalding light. So he opened his mouth and he cried out, slapping both hands over his forehead. It didn’t do any good; his third eye could see the bones in his fingers, the veins in his wrists, the light in his bloodstream.

In the end, they had him pinned to a table until a medical science surgeon was called in. “I could try a thing or two,” the surgeon said when asked whether or not he could stop the screeching. He didn’t see himself much as a surgeon; he thought of himself as more of a scientist. He saw his patients as experiments. And he saw the third eye on Kevin’s forehead and thought to start with something simple.

“I could try to close it,” he said, “Or I could just scrape it out.”

“It might come in handy,” said a man in a suit.

“It might,” said the surgeon.

Not until the final stitch was threaded into Kevin’s skin did he finally stop screaming. His thrashing came to a halt and he laid perfectly still on the break room table. He could see everything but it was dimmer. He wasn’t blinded and he wasn’t burning. He could finally walk forward without looking where he was going, lead only by the benevolent guidance of his Smiling God.

However, without the light to distract him, he was left with the images of Vanessa’s freshly gored body. He didn’t scream for her. He didn’t say a word. Kevin simply closed his eyes and thought about her. He thought about her and how unbelievable it all was. What were the odds that both Brytne and Vanessa died within a day of one another? Who would kill an innocent person on live radio? How was it possible that the woman who drove him into the middle of the desert with a fire in her eyes just yesterday could be gone today? No, Kevin thought, she was alive and she would undoubtedly be in the studio in the morning. She wasn’t dead. She wasn’t smeared along the walls or scattered across the desk. Not Vanessa.

“How do you feel, Kevin?” asked Lauren, holding his hand as if they had been friends for years.

Kevin beamed.

“I’m fine. Just fine.”


	3. The Silent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was no revolution.

Many people never came to work again. Kevin wanted to be one of those people but he felt compelled to arrive as he always had. Something inside of him, something like sharp nails dragging him to a shallow grave (no) like a gentle and guiding voice, told him to get up and to be productive. Something inside of Kevin woke him up in the morning even when his alarm wasn’t set and it put his clothes on and accessorized his face with a smile. There was a force in him that got him into his car and sent him to work. He arrived on time and he was happy about it.

It was strange that Vanessa wasn’t there with a fresh pot of coffee those first few mornings. He was offered a new intern but he just giggled, “Vanessa’s taking a sick day. She’ll be back soon.” He didn’t know where he got that idea but he knew it was true. Vanessa would be back. It would be terribly awkward if he replaced her in the meantime, wouldn’t it be?

So Kevin made his own coffee, arriving at the station earlier than usual to make sure his schedule didn’t suffer the five minutes it took to prepare a pot. It was lonely with half of the office gone. It was such a shame, too, since the new decorations were so very lovely to behold. Kevin wanted to talk about it with his coworkers in the break room. He wanted to discuss the blood dripping down the walls and the teeth scattered on the desks. But the people who had been napping in the studio the day Strex took over never woke up and others never showed up to work again. He overheard that some never left their homes again. It was probably because their homes were boarded up with big square plates of steel, hidden beneath orange tents with yellow triangles. It was sad that they couldn’t make it to work but how nice it was that they got to have their homes renovated…! They were all replaced, slowly but surely. All of them except Vanessa.

“She’ll be back,” Kevin insisted to Lauren, who kept offering him new interns. “She’ll be back,” Kevin insisted to his reflection, which stared back at him in fear.

Kevin could see the world in a way he’d never seen it before. He saw everything in a room as it was. He no longer saw beating hearts or bending bones or working engines but he could see the fly on the wall behind him. He could see the crow’s feet barely hidden by cheap make-up on someone’s face.

Kevin saw the light. He felt the light. It was inside of him and everyone he worked with. It was productive and warm and he embraced it. Good things happened when he worked. He received praise and he felt just a little closer to God. He could see God. He even felt like he could talk to God and that the voice in his head was God talking back. God told him he was perfect and he believed it. God told him to wake up in the morning and to inspire everyone to work hard by being a shining example of hard work. Kevin was eager to please his Smiling God because in return, he was allowed to see his perfect self.

By making the Smiling God smile, he was granted a view of his reflection, mirrored in the glistening, white teeth of his God. It was so much nicer than his other reflection. The one that looked sad and terrified. The one that looked back at him through dirty and pale mirrors. He didn’t want to see that reflection.

For a solid month, he worked without incident. He happily carried on with life and with his job as he always had. In fact, he felt he was happier than ever in both aspects of life and work. Happier than he ever had been. The only thing that could make it better was if his favorite intern was there.

And she was. After a month had gone by, Kevin walked into an empty break room to find a fresh pot of coffee already prepared. “Oh,” he said, automatically pouring a cup. It left him with free time since he’d meant to make the pot himself. So he prepared the drink as he pleased, with too much sugar, and sat himself at the break room table. Another chair was already pulled out. Kevin stared at the empty space as if someone was sitting with him. He even smiled as if he was greeting that someone. He said, “Good morning.”

There wasn’t an answer but his usual preparations for the show were already done before he could get to them. The weather was prepped, the prerecorded messages were queued, daily points of interest were highlighted, so on and so forth. Kevin found he had a lot of free time to stare at walls, smiling and feeling like someone was smiling back.

A couple days later, there were bloody footprints covering the main hall’s floor. It was as if someone had been pacing back and forth… or running a lot of errands. At some point, they took a turn into the station management room. No one had been in there since Strexcorp took over.

Kevin had enough time to take a peak. He followed the footprints into the room to find it was covered in thick, sticky webbing. It was dark and it was cold and there were a pair of eyes staring back at him from a shadowy corner. “Hello?” asked Kevin. There was no answer other than the slow blinking of those eyes. Kevin looked around, taking time to really admire all of the webbing. There were bones and spiders and rats all tangled up in the mess. Kevin said, “I love what you’ve done with the place.”

Just as he began to leave, he heard a quiet but familiar, “Thank you…”

Kevin just smiled as he closed the door.

The next day, Lauren pulled him aside. “Kevin,” she said sweetly although her eyes showed a hint of worry, “Our evening host didn’t show up for work last night. Well, that’s not entirely true; we have footage of him entering the building but there’s a blind spot in the hallway and where we’re going to make sure that gets fixed… He never leaves that blind spot. He just… disappears! Right in the middle of this hallway…”

“How odd!” Kevin gasped.

“Yes,” she said, “Very odd. And you… don’t know… anything about that?”

“No,” said Kevin, putting a hand to his chest. “Goodness, no! I wish I knew. I’ll have to be careful when walking down that hall. Wouldn’t want to go missing. You be careful, too, Lauren. I suggest running between each shot. Oh! But be just as careful you don’t slip and fall!” He giggled at that as he eyed the corridor and all its bloody glory. “It is a little slippery, yes, but isn’t it just beautiful?”

Still concerned about the missing employee, and now for her life, Lauren nodded while biting her lip. “Yes…” she commented, “Beautiful…”

Kevin attempted to tiptoe past her while she was busy contemplating but she snapped back around to meet his gaze. “Oh, but Kevin, there was something else.”

“Something else?” he asked.

“We didn’t have a night host… But the show still went on. As if someone was still here.”

“Do we have footage of them?”

“No…” said Lauren, “No, the cameras in the studio went dark just after Larry disappeared.”

Kevin put his hands on his hips and asked, “How do we know it wasn’t just Larry? Maybe he was smoking in the blind spot and then after the cameras mysteriously went dark, he went back to work?”

“Because,” said Lauren, “he never left. His car is still in outside.”

Kevin was quiet a moment, considering that. He only managed to say, “My. That’s quite the mystery,” as he left her for the break room.

After the show, Lauren stopped Kevin in the hall once again. It was now littered with cameras. It was enough vigilance to soothe even the most paranoid of creatures. Kevin simply marveled at them as Lauren said, “We’d like you to stay a little longer tonight, Kevin. We haven’t been able to get a hold of Larry so we had to hire his intern, Namir, for the time being. We were hoping you’d stick around and show him the ropes. Make sure he doesn’t go missing in the middle of the night.”

Kevin scrunched his nose as he smiled and sang, “It’ll cost you!”

Lauren was grimacing beneath a thin smile of her own, “It would be really nice of you if you would just—“

“I have a life, Lauren,” Kevin said suddenly, his voice deep and his hallowed eyes strangely darker than they had been before. Lauren reeled back, clearing her throat.

“Of course; I was just teasing you. It’s paid. Of course.”

“Great!” Kevin laughed, “It sounds fun! Like a sleepover!”

“But no sleeping!” Lauren hummed, “You’ll be working all night!”

“Wouldn’t _dream_ of doing anything else,” smiled Kevin.

“Of course not! You won’t be dreaming. You’ll be working,” said Lauren.

“Yes… that’s the joke,” Kevin replied, gritting his teeth.

She blinked a few times, barely even breathing and without moving in the slightest, before her smile widened and she said, “Alright, bye!” She left in haste, clearly not in the least bit eager to learn what had become of Larry, the former night host.

Kevin went to the research room where Namir was looking for something interesting to say. He sat next to the intern with a pleasant smile and a soft, “Hello.”

Namir jumped and then relaxed, saying, “Oh, Lauren said you’d be here…” A stiffness returned to his shoulders as he studied Kevin’s face. “I um… I’m kind of worried… about Larry.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure he’s dead,” said Kevin.

“No I mean—shit, you think so?” Namir wheezed into his hands while Kevin placed a hand over his back.

Kevin reassured him, “Not to worry, though. I think you’ll do just fine. No need to worry about Larry taking back his job. All those wonderful, paid work hours belong to you now!”

“No,” groaned Namir, pushing his hands through his hair, “It’s not the work hours. It’s not even Larry! It’s whatever happened to him. I’m worried it’ll happen to me!”

And Kevin nodded, “You should be. Who _knows_ what happened to that guy.”

“You are not helping.”

“Right,” Kevin chuckled, turning his attention to the computer screen, “Back to work, then. Let’s see… well, it’s nighttime. Most people will be asleep. You don’t need to worry about all the big news that they’ll just hear in the morning. I suggest finding reassuring things and interesting facts to comfort everyone who can’t fall asleep. Something to keep them company while their loved ones dream away and leave them stewing in their lonely, anxiety-riddled minds.”

Namir gave Kevin a worried look but nodded in consideration. “You know,” he said, typing _‘interesting facts’_ into a Google search bar, “That’s not a bad idea, actually… Thanks.”

“You look like you have great taste in music. That’s the important part for a night host. I think you’ll do great.”

“Thanks,” Namir repeated, going so far as to offer Kevin a smile.

Kevin beamed, “There he is!” before getting up and leaving him with a pat on the back.

He entered the studio to find a rather large spider sitting in front of the microphone. A human hand ran along the bar that held it at its proper height. It was a loving, longing touch, like the desire to reunite with an old friend. Kevin stood still, shocked and amazed. He was unafraid as he approached, a laugh bubbling up from his gut.

The spider, which was more accurately only part giant tarantula with a human torso and head sticking up from the cephalothorax, turned around slowly, her eyes going wide at the sight of him.

“ **Brytne**?!” Kevin gasped, as if he hadn’t seen her for years, “Is that you?! You look… You look great!”

“Kevin,” she said, her eight legs moving as she turned to face him. “I didn’t recognize you. How have you been?”

Kevin laughed, “Oh, who cares about me! I thought you were dead!” He couldn’t stop laughing. Wiping a tear from his empty eye, he sighed loudly and said, “Yeah, I remember. You were dead. And now you’re not! That’s so wonderful. It seems to be **in** these days. You remember Vanessa?”

Brytne looked down at herself, tugging at the dress that hung from her human torso in pieces. “Yes…” she mused, “I died. Sort of. Station Management and I made a deal just before it… retired. And it was…” She presented herself with a vague hand gesture. “It was _this_ ,” she said dismally.

“Oh, but Brytne…” Kevin said, making the same gesture but with gusto, “You look so great! You’re amazing! Look at you!”

She smiled sheepishly at first but it turned into a smug smirk after a beat. She put her hands on her cephalothorax, which would have been her hips if they weren’t joined to a spider body, and said, “Flattery will get you everything, sir.”

“Goodness,” Kevin teased, playfully putting a hand to his chest, “I’ll just keep that in mind.”

Then she sighed heavily and returned her attention to the microphone. “I want to do radio again,” she said. “It was the best job I ever had. Talking to a world full of sleepy eyes in need of a gentle voice… That was my _purpose_ …”

“Aw, that’s beautiful,” cooed Kevin.

“I’m so hungry,” said Brytne.

Kevin perked up and said, “Oh! Well, there’s an intern in the research labs right now. His name is Namir and he’s very nice. You should go see if he’ll join you for a meal.”

Brytne cast a curious glance at Kevin but there was no hiding the hunger in her gaze. “You don’t say.”

“Well, he was promoted today. He’s the night host, now.”

She narrowed her eyes and her fangs dripped with venom. “You don’t say,” she repeated.

“I do say,” said Kevin.

“How about you take the night off,” she suggested, “I'll take things from here.”

“Sounds good,” said Kevin, waving as he headed for the front door. He passed Namir in the hallway, heading straight for the studio. “Goodnight,” Kevin said kindly.

“Night...?” replied Namir, brow knotting in confusion.

Lauren screamed when Kevin entered the studio the next morning. “Where were you?!” she snapped the very moment he stepped foot inside the door.

Kevin’s empty eyes went wide and he chuckled, “Good morning, Lauren. I was just outside. Before that, I was in my car and before that I was enjoying a peaceful breakfast at home. Before that I—“

“Cute,” she sneered, “But you know what I’m talking about. You were supposed to work all night but you left and now Namir is gone.”

“But the show went on?” asked Kevin.

“Yes…” Lauren growled.

“Then I don’t see the problem,” Kevin retorted.

She raised herself onto her toes in order to get in his face, pointing an accusing finger straight into his chest. “You know what’s happening around here, don’t you, Kevin?”

“Yes,” Kevin replied. “And here’s my suggestion; you replace the night host every night. You’ll never have to pay them and you’ll never see them again and the show will go on.”

“Oh, really?” asked Lauren incredulously, settling back down to her heels and placing her arms akimbo.

Kevin nodded, “Oh. Really.”

She opened her mouth to speak but instead, she closed her teeth around her thumbnail and gnawed thoughtfully. “Well, that would save us almost ten hours of pay a night… But if someone’s doing the show, someone has to be getting paid. Right?”

Kevin shrugged, “Probably.”

“So who’s palm am I having to grease here, Kevin?”

“Hmm…” he hummed, eyes falling to the former Station Management’s door. “I think hiring a new night host every night should be payment enough. For good measure, though, I’d leave a little something right in front of that door. Just from time to time, you know.”

Lauren eyed the door and then turned her attention back to Kevin, squinting at him and muttering, “What are you up to?”

He threw his arms up in defense. “Nothing!” he insisted innocently, “Absolutely nothing, Lauren. Why would I lie to you?”

She stared a moment longer and then shook her head helplessly, waving her hands in front of her chest and stepping away. “Fine. It’s cheap. The show goes on. As long as you’re right, we’re fine.”

Lauren muttered under her breath as she skirted around to the conference room. “Well, gentlemen,” she announced cheerfully before closing the door behind her.

Kevin made his way for the studio, stopping just in front of former Station Management’s door, which creaked open as he approached. “Thank you,” Brytne murmured.

“Don’t mention it,” Kevin giggled.

There was already a hot cup of coffee sitting on the desk when he entered the studio.

A few more weeks went by. No incidents occurred besides the disappearance of each new night host. The show went on, as promised. No one was the wiser that people were going missing because the same host came on every night. She introduced herself as Brytne, saying it was “good to be back.”

If anyone put in any reports, they went unread. Strexcorp owned everything. Police, detectives; if anything lead to Strexcorp, it went unread. No one spoke against Strexcorp. Especially not out in the open. There was no fight. No revolution. Desert Bluffs went on with the hum and drum of daily life, of business, but was otherwise… silent.

The weeks came and went. There was always coffee. Always a pulled out chair. As a thank you for all the meals and occasional pay, Brytne would leave Kevin half a body or more whenever the studio decorations began to get old. Fresh streamers of guts for the desk, plenty of blood for the floor, and a whole head of teeth and eyes to play with. The studio had never been a happier place.

Until one day, during a show, one of the windows dividing the studio and the booth cracked. Kevin said, “Oh! Listeners, it seems as though someone has attempted to punch through the glass looking into the booth. Lauren, would you mind getting a closer look at--? Lauren? Where did she go? Listeners, Lauren was just in the booth a moment ago but now she’s—“

Lauren burst into the studio, shivering and stammering. “Calm down, Lauren! Please, tell me what’s bothering you?”

“I’m done,” she said very quickly, “I think everything here at Desert Bluffs Community Radio is going smoothly. M-my job is done and I’ve got to get the ball rolling for our next project. It has been just… wonderful working with you, Kevin.”

“Oh, no… You’re leaving? Are you alright? You look a little pale.”

“No, no, I’m—“ Her eyes went wide and she shrank away from the studio, digging her nails into the corridor wall as she took steps from the door. “A- **angel** …!” she shrieked, nearly stumbling over her heels as she made for the exit.

Kevin’s heart skipped a beat in fear and he spun around to see. But there were no angels. He laughed loudly, relieved. “Oh, good one, Lauren!” he chuckled. “Listeners, Lauren got me good! I nearly jumped right out of my skin! To think, an angel showing up in the studio… haha… No, it’s just my dear intern Vanessa! Hi, Vanessa. How are you?”

Her mouth opened and blood rained down from her lips as she spoke.

“Night Vale,” she whispered, her voice like many voices overlapping but speaking from far away. “Go to Night Vale,” she murmured, “Inside the bloodstone walls.”

“What was that, Vanessa?” asked Kevin, “ _Limestone?_ Hahaha, good one, Vanessa. You’re such a jokester. Did Lauren put you up to this?”

Lauren was replaced. She moved on to do bigger and better things for Strexcorp, leaving the DBCR station in the hands of a biomachine created in the Strexcorp Laboratories. His name was Daniel and Kevin grew fond of bringing him coffee every morning.

“Vanessa saves me so much time and money by making me a fresh pot every morning,” he would say. “I might as well put that time and money towards something nice, right? And what could be better than showing your superiors how much you appreciate them?”

Life went on. Vanessa often talked of Night Vale. From time to time, Kevin would stare off and realize, “You know, I’ve never actually been to Night Vale… I bet it’s beautiful.” But then he’d get distracted by the thought. As if some unknown force was keeping him from considering such a dark place. It repelled his bright nature. Not that he was aware of such things. There was a time he’d be able to see those forces at work in front of his eyes. But those eyes were missing and stitched up, now.

All that was left was the light and the news. That blinding light. And such wonderful news. “This whole desert is beautiful,” Kevin would say. And when he looked in the mirror, he found that his reflection was beautiful, too. Mostly because it was too bright to see clearly. The light washed out all of his imperfections until all he could see was his smile.

Everything that seemed so important before faded away, drowning under the pools of blood that covered the station floors. The Smiling God took care of all Kevin’s worries. It made the loud screaming and struggling turn into soft, quiet laughter. All the darkness turned to light. All imperfections gave way to perfection. Kevin had Daniel and Brytne and Vanessa and he got to say “goodnight” to a new face every day before leaving them to die. Life was good. Better than ever.

Life was… _**perfect**_.

Kevin edged towards his microphone, staring into the darkness of the booth where Vanessa stood, watching him in return. She said nothing as he smiled warmly at her, only leaned against the few shards of glass left on the window until they snapped away from their frame. The green LED lights flickered and she was gone. "And as always," Kevin said, a joyful gleam of a smile piercing the sickening green and red atmosphere, "Until next time, Desert Bluffs. Until next time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that last chapter took so long! It was underwhelming, I know. But that was sorta why it was so hard to write? Haha. Well, I hope you enjoyed this little story, anyway. Thanks for reading! Feel free to let me know what you thought in the comments below!


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